College of Liberal Arts

Department of English

"From Room to Room:
A Note on the Ending of 'The Pit and the Penduleum'"

Can the critical debates
between a relatively happy and a relatively unhappy ending to "The Pit and the
Pendulum" be resolved? In Carter's view, Poe has left us a clue that tips the
balance in favor of a "negative" reading--a clue that lies in the name of the
French general who rescues the narrator.